


Arabica and Robusta

by Oienel



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2018-12-17 21:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11860296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oienel/pseuds/Oienel
Summary: Not your usual Coffee Shop!AU.A.k.a. baristas also deserve love.





	1. Espresso

The bell rings, announcing another patron. It’s 8:30am, and you hate this time of the day, hoards of people, who all look dead inside, hurrying to their respective offices, having waken up too late to eat normal breakfast, munching on their bought sandwiches, and sipping their coffees from paper cups, wishing it would give them power to go through their day.

“Americano, double cappuccino, two times latte macchiato!” You announce as you put the lids over the lattes. Patron with a suit a little too big for his frame reaches you, and you immediately dive for a coaster, so he can take those coffees to his team, probably.

As soon as you are done with him, you turn back to the coffee maker, there are enough pending orders for you to feel helpless, but nonetheless you clean the nozzles, turn on the grinder and go on with your work.

You like being barista. Usually. Usually you can focus on making good, rich beverage, making sure that the crema has the right color and texture, that the milk is exactly at 70°C, that the art is good enough to land on Instagram.

You have started to practice 3D art lately, and it’s going along quite nicely.

But during rush hours, your artistry has to be thrown out the window. With your will to live.

At 9 am it all stops. You sag on the counter, finally allowing yourself to look unprofessional, and you watch your colleague slump against the cash register. She looks at you from under her arm, and both of you laugh.

Till 11 am nothing really happens, but then you know you have to start preparing for lunch rush. You restock sandwiches, when Gayeon restocks paper cups and prepares express. It’s your time to work cash register.

You take a deep breath, and stand up turning your head to the sides, feeling how your bones crack back into place. You push your elbows together behind your back and you yelp when foreigner finger tries to lodge itself between your ribs. You turn around, but prankster has already passed you to bother Gayeon, who is already yelping and giggling to evade his petting hands.

“Hi, Jongdae.” You say letting your exasperation be heard in your voice – you always have problem discerning whether you are annoyed with him or you enjoy being bothered.

Probably the second option, but it’s not like you are going to admit that out loud.

He looks up, and stops bothering Gayeon (who doesn’t seem so content about it) to smile at you – all teeth on display.

“Hi there, Champion!” He is really cheerful, but then again it’s his basic state. It’s probably because he never really gets morning shifts, so he never has to survive the morning rush.

Or so you tell yourself, knowing that even in the worst morning rush he would be annoyingly cheerful.

“You do realize that is not my name?” You say, annoyed at yourself for this lame line. Jongdae laughs and Gayeon sends you unhappy look. You hate it, but Jongdae is one of those guys that are funny enough and handsome enough that every girl in the vicinity gets swept by his charm. You included. And you, as Gayeon, and every other girl get jealous when he focuses on somebody else. It’s lame, and it’s quite vindictive, and it’s very not chicks before dicks, but who are we kidding? That might work with best friends, but at work you have acquaintances, but not real friends. And little rivalry never killed anyone (unless we are talking _Game of Thrones_ ) , and it does brighten your days.

Especially when Jongdae is out of your reach, anyway.

“But it fits, Champ.” You want to give him some smart-ass retort, but female customer stops in front of the cash register, and Jongdae loses his interest and focuses on the girl – all his charms against poor teenager.

This time you and Gayeon belong to one team, so you exchange half-amused, half-exasperated stares, as you listen to Jongdae successfully talking the girl into enlarging her drink, and buying a piece of cake, and joining loyalty program.

Jongdae’s effect.

*

“I have officially closed cash register.” Exclaims Jongdae cheerfully, and pushes past you to enter backroom. You look up from where you are restocking paper cups, to say something, but Wonjae is quicker.

“Dude, you are not manager.” He is sweeping up floor in customer’s area, but he stopped to rest on the broom and look after Jongdae as well. “What if another customer comes?”

Jongdae ignores him, and a moment later chill-out playlist changes to some ridiculous, out of the depths of youtube, music. He comes out of the backroom, singling loudly, holding doors open for Songbin, shift manager, who came to close cash register for the day. He rolls his eyes, when he sees you looking at both him and Jongdae, and shrugs.

“Jongdae, can you pass me latte and espresso cups from the lift?” You ask pointedly, to make him move his ass. It’s closing time, you all want to go home, and you’ll be out faster if everybody is working.

“Sure thing, Champ!” He sing-songs.

“That is not my name.” You sing-song back, feeling validated to have back his attention on you. He walks backwards to lift to keep looking at you.

“Oh, to me? You are a champ.” He reaches lift, and grabs first packed row of cups. “Catch!”

Uh-oh. You hate that, but you also find that amusing. But you mostly hate it. Everytime someone asks Jongdae to pass them something – he will throw it to the person asking. No matter what that was (so many times you found you yourself scrambling to grab 6 oranges, while fresh juice order waited), Jongdae would throw it to the waiting person delightfully.

As he did now. You grabbed the packed row from the air, putting it on the counter immediately, knowing that it’s not yet finished. To make it more _fun_ , you knew that when you were packing the lift with restocking stuff, you didn’t put in the whole row of latte cups, because – you didn’t need that much. And you could see the glee in Jongdae’s eyes.

A second later cup after cup was flying your way, maybe twenty of them, you caught maybe six or seven of them. The rest scattered on the floor.

“Jongdae!” It comes from several throats, as other workers turn around to see what was happening. There is reprimand, there is exasperation, there is laughter, and there is admiration mixed in those voices.

“You need to up your game, Champ. No good. No good at all.” He says ignoring others, but comes to your rescue and cleans up the cups from the floor.

You can’t do more than give him a stinky eye.

*

“Beers?”

It’s an usual call. Wonjae is always ready for beers after work, and with the hours you work, usually you can only go drinking with them (after afternoon shift), and usually you _are_ up for this.

But not today. You are tired, and your period started and you feel like taking a shower, and going to sleep. And you do have morning shift tomorrow.

“Nah, guys, I am tired. See you tomorrow!” You wave, and in the midst of whines you turn around. You don’t get a chance to take a single step, when there is arm around your neck, and a whine above your head.

“Don’t leave us, Champ.” Jongdae husks into your ear.

“Leave it, Jongdae, she is going hoooome~” Shouts Jeongeun, wooing him to come. You don’t turn around to look at her, but you know she _doesn’t_ want you to come. There is laughter behind you, but you know it’s not malicious, so you flip them off good-heartedly.

“Oh, c’mon, Champion, don’t be a party-pooper.” You look up to him, to tell him that one person less is not going to make a difference, or maybe that you’ll go next time – but he is ready. Puppy-eyes and all that stuff turned on. “For me?”

You want to say no. You really want to, but as you look into those puppy-eyes, and lips curved at the corners that are twitching to contain a smile, you find yourself saying:

“Only one.”

Jongdae howls and turns around to the rest, and they cheer as well – but the only thing you notice is the fact that Jongdae’s arm is no longer around you.

 

*

It wasn’t one beer. Of course it wasn’t one beer – it’s never one beer.

You are in the uber, going home, sharing it with Jeongeun – you both live in the same part of the city, so it’s logical you’d share the fare. But considering you both are pretty drunk, it might not be the best idea.

“You like him.” She slurs. Your head is resting heavily on the headrest, and you exhale equally heavily, feeling how your stomach revolts. But even now you know who she is talking about. She made sure to be sitting next to Jongdae, and he indulged her, as he usually did. He also indulged the girl from another table that asked him to be her white knight.

He also indulged you, when you asked him to go buy you another beer.

Kim Jongdae, ladies’ man.

“What’s not to like.” You answer, not looking at her.

“No.” She slurs. You can feel her staring at you. “You like him. Like _like_ him.” You roll your head on the headrest to look at her. Your head is pounding. Jeongeun is looking at you with her jaw set. Seems like she is the one that _likes_ likes Jongdae.

“So what?” You hiccup. You realize that the talk is meaningless, but you are both too out of it to lose it.

“I will have him. I am going to take him, and you can _fuck off_.” She slurs and looks away. You see driver looking at you in the mirror. You also look away, more sober than you were a moment ago. Jeongeun is mumbling something to herself, and you really hope that she won’t remember it. “You are a bitch and I hate you.”

“Sure, Jeongeun.” She mumbles more, but you can’t focus anymore, your body giving up. You really hope you didn’t leak through on the car seat.

You throw up in front of your building.

*

And you are horribly hangover for your morning shift. You are late, you barely make through morning rush, and then lunch rush only destroyed you more. By the time your shift was over you were sagging against the counter.

There is a tap on the counter and you jump to your feet to greet the customer – which turns out to be very fresh, and very pleased with himself.

“Hi, there, Slugger!”

“Please, don’t call me that.” You say, and there is hand above your head, and you duck not to let him ruffle your hair. “And go change yourself so I can go home.”

“Rough night?” He asks, and you look up, and he sports this earnest expression, and you don’t know whether you want to kill him, laugh at him, or whine how rough your night was.

“Just go.” You say weakly in the end. He knocks on the counter.

“Sure thing. Slugger.” He says, and starts walking to staff’s entrance.

“Still not my name.” You call after him, but he only waves at you.

*

So, it’s hot. AC is working at its highest gear, but it’s still not enough, and when you are not working, you all do everything to protect yourselves from the heat. Management changed half of your cake cabinet into ice cream cabinet, and you are all suffering higher customer’s rate.

Bell at the doors ring and you turn around to check. There is family of 5, which probably means few scoops of ice cream to go, so you move to the cash register, but you notice Jongdae sitting on the floor under the cash register.

He sees you staring and sends you a wink. You know he heard the bell, and you know that he knows customers are in, but has no intention to move. You roll your eyes, but you go to serve the family, without a slightest whine.

Jongdae’s effect.

You stand over Jongdae, who seems to be really happy on the floor, judging from his enthusiastic patting on your shin.

“How can I help you?” You ask cheerfully, ignoring Jongdae under you. Family is still fighting over it, so you wait, as Jongdae plays around with your apron. You swat his hands away, but that only gives you a bright, _bright_ , smile.

Finally father turns to you.

“Five ice creams, three scoops each, please.”

“Of course!” You say, as you work cash register. Price is said, there is a wallet being opened, and then there is money being placed on the counter. You are in the middle of calling Gayeon so she would bring more receipt paper, so only when it’s too late, you see a hand appearing next to you, grabbing money from the counter. Few things happen. Mother of the family screams, father lunges forward to see where the hand came from, so does the oldest son, who immediately starts to laugh seeing Jongdae, who unfazed, still sitting on the floor, opened cash drawer, and worked his way to count change without looking.

You looked up terrified, ready to apologize to the family, but they were already laughing, and that set you off as well.

In the meantime Jongdae, with shit-eating-grin puts change on the counter.

You look down as Gayeon goes to give ice cream to the family, and you find Jongdae looking up at you, eyes shining, smile bright.

“See? I am useful.”

You really want to smack him.

*

Intercom is ringing. You look around hoping that someone is free and they can take the call, but no. You see Jeongeun sending you a glance from her place next to the coffee machine. She is tapping her hand on the counter waiting for espresso to finish, and you suddenly remember going home with her. You could change with her, and leave her to answer the intercom, as she clearly wants to.

But you don’t want to.

“Yes?” You answer into the com.

“Awww! Kiddo!” You hear on the other end.

“Not my name.” You say, turning a little to see the shop, and Jeongeun lock her eyes with you, so you smile. You don’t know whether you do it to reassure her, or to annoy her. Probably the second one. Female rivalry.

“So not the point. I need you down here. With me. It’s gonna be fun, Kiddo!” He says cheerfully.

“Am I your son? Champ? Slugger? Kiddo? What is next? Sport? Junior?”

“Still not the point. Come here.”

You hang up and smile at Jeongeun.

“I am going down to help Jongdae.” She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t even give you a sign that she heard you, but you push by her – you informed someone that you are going down, job is done.

You go into back room, and down the stairs, where you have your kitchen, freezers, and supply room. You enter the kitchen, where hiphop is blaring from Jongdae’s phone and he is rapping along, as he unpacks delivery. He doesn’t hear you enter, while throwing bags of coffee on the shelf.

“Jongdae?” You call him, and he turns around like a snake, spots you, and walks to you (dancing around piles of boxes), and extends his hand in the “macho” greeting, so you grab it, and you bump your shoulders while patting each other on the backs.

“Good you came, I needed you so much I could barely breathe.” You allow him to see your skeptical face, and he smiles, eyes disappearing.

“Sure, Jongdae.” You say, just to say anything, realizing that you are getting bothered. Would Jeongeun try to take her chance, down here – one on one with Jongdae? _Probably_. “Why did you need me?”

“I was feeling lonely~” he sing-songs, but saying your face, he clears his throat. “I just didn’t want to take care of the boxes.”

You look at the floor at piles of empty boxes and you sigh. Jongdae should be able to do it alone, but you just extend your hand, and Jongdae is smart enough to put a knife in it, and you go to work, without much ado.

You are half way through the “dismantle of boxes”, when you realize Jongdae is no longer unpacking. You look up at him, to see him resting against cooking counter, looking at you thoughtfully.

“Kiddo.” He says, and you sigh.

“As I said, not my name.”

“But you react.” He retorts with disarming smile, but it disappears nearly immediately. “But I was thinking about our talk earlier.”

“And?” You ask, and he fixes his stance into more sultry one.

“Well, you are certainly not my son,” he says, with this low, lewd, voice and shining eyes,” but I could be your daddy.”

He says that with all seriousness, but you know that under his poker face there is a playfulness of a puppy, but not that innocent. Again you are bothered, and you don’t want to be a butt of Jongdae’s joke, so you put the knife away.

“You can finish the rest.” You say coolly, and leave the room.

Girl needs to protect her heart, right?

*

“Give me tray.” You call to nobody in particular. You are out from behind the counter, having finished sweeping floor, and now you want to clean up the tables. Wonjae is the closest to you, but she is busy with coffee order, so the one to give you the tray is Jongdae.

Except he doesn’t really _give_ it to you. You extend your hand, but he puts the tray on the counter. So you try to grab it, but he slides it out of your reach. You look up at him, and he looks back at you with a straight face. You try to grab it again, but again, Jongdae is playing cat and mouse with you.

You exhale and look to your left, trying not to let your annoyance get you. When you look up at him, you can see the playfulness, you can see the smile that is ready to break out on his face, and it’s the last straw. You grab the tray and forcefully yank it out of his hands.

You don’t look back, fuming, but trying not to show that. You know that you wouldn’t win in a fight with him. Not because you are too weak, or your arguments are subpar – but because everyone would take his side.

Hell, if it was somebody else, you would probably take his side. Like people tend to do with children. He is young. He doesn’t know better.

Except he should know better.

You try to forget, try to let it go, but the unfairness of the situation, the social construct of funny/handsome guy being always dotted on momentarily pisses you off. Even if when you are not angry, you don’t really have problem with that.

You calm down after cleaning tables. It’s late and quiet, Tuesday evening is not a time you’d expect trouble. There are few patrons scattered at the tables, two or three dates, group of students working on a project, but they are all quiet, as if afraid to speak up.

You like this kind of quietness the most. There is something romantic about it. Quietness, wooden floors and wooden tables, old comfortable armchairs, subtle music in the background, and calming smell of ground coffee and tea. That’s the background of every romantic coffee shop story, picturesque scenario that you don’t really understand.

But then again, you work in a coffee shop. For you it’s more a battle ground than romantic spot.

You put dirty dishes away and grin at Wonjae who is now on dishwashing duty. He waves you away, not happy, but not sad either. Dishwashing is a nice appointment during rush hours, but it is an exile when nothing is happening.

You duck under the counter, feeling adrenaline rush, because in a second you will have to face Jongdae again. Suddenly you want to go relieve Wonjae.

Sure enough Jongdae ambushes you as soon as he realizes you are back. You are next to cash register, and he invades your personal space in a way only Jongdae can safely do. He places his hand on the counter, and the other one on your side. If it wasn’t Jongdae, you would be grossed out, probably filling harassment charges against a guy that tried. But it’s Jongdae. You have no problem with that, and you hate yourself for this double standards.

“Are you mad at me?” He asks in a hushed voice, all serious.

“No, Jongdae, I am not mad at you.” You answer not looking at him. It’s true. You are not mad at him, you are mad at yourself. And the society. Which further proves your point.

Silence lasts about ten seconds.

“Don’t be mad at me~”, he pleads in whiny voice. Your annoyance at him is back. “Hm? Please? Don’t be mad.~”

“Jongdae.” You try again, more sternly this time. “I am not mad at you.”

“But you sound mad.” He whines, and you look straight ahead, feeling overwhelmed with the situation. He is taking a piss. As always. And yet it gets to you. “What can I do you won’t be mad at me? I don’t like you being mad.~”

You don’t say anything, knowing that it’s not going to work.

“Hm? Hm? Don’t be mad, Princess.”

“Just cut it!” You might have been a notch too loud, if suddenly risen heads are anything to go by. Also Wonjae’s surprised head appearing in the doors is a good indicator. You are embarrassed and you quite violently shake off Jongdae’s hand off you.

He does seem taken aback, and it’s a first time you see him not playful or cheerful.

“Trouble in paradise?” Asks Wonjae jokingly and both you and Jongdae look at him, and he shrugs. “You look like pair fighting or something.”

“Except we are not dating.” You say dryly stepping away from Jongdae.

“Well, you got me fooled here.” You narrow your eyes at Wonjae and he shrugs again, and addresses Jongdae.” Listen, man, sorry to be disrupting your rendezvous, but I have clean dishes, so move your ass over here.”

Jongdae salutes him lazily and without any word to you he goes to retrieve dishes.

*

“Pancake?”

It’s Wednesday evening, and this time it’s you, Jongdae and Jeongeun on a shift. There is also Songbin, but he is sitting in the office, and he won’t come out unless specifically called for.

You look up from where you are trying to make it look like you are working, when you are doing Sudoku. Jeongeun is standing in the doorway, looking at you all blushing. No wonder.

A moment ago you got pancake order and Jongdae immediately grabbed it and went to kitchen to prepare it. And since nothing was happening it took Jeongeun a whole minute before she joined him.

The order is already out, so it takes you a second before you understand that she is asking whether you want a pancake.

“Sure.” You say shrugging. She disappears.  

You look down at your Sudoku, but your curiosity is making it impossible to solve it. You are _curious_ what is going down there. Is she making her move? Is Jongdae receptive? Are they going to be together?

To think about it – you don’t even know whether Jongdae _is_ single. It’s not like you talk about that stuff.

You hear doors open, and once again it’s Jeongeun, looking blissful.

“He made me heart out of pancake. Isn’t that sweet?” She asks and rests against counter as if she was a heroine in romantic animation.

“Woah. That’s so romantic.” She doesn’t seem to notice your lack of emotions, and motions for you to go down to eat, looking all dreamy.

Is she or is she not imagining their wedding right now?

Back smells of pancakes. It’s a nice smell, at least usually, but not when mixed with smell of detergents you store there. You pass by the office, and go down to the kitchen, where you hear Jongdae humming and oil popping.

“My Princess!” He greets you cheerfully.

“Sure.” It might not be enthusiastic, but you don’t really have a reason to be enthusiastic. After yesterday’s squabble you’d think he would be more wary of you? But no, it’s Jongdae, as always not noticing what is happening around him. Or choosing not to care.

You don’t think he is stupid, so the second one is more likely.

“I put your pancake over there.” He says, motioning where it is with his chin. You see it on the counter, next to different spreads and fruits.

“Thanks.” You say, walking over and you see him shrug in answer, which for Jongdae is really unusual thing to do. His usual would be to throw some lewd or stupid joke at you.

Pancake is in a shape of a crown.

“A crown?” You ask, grabbing one of jam jars. Jongdae looks up from frying pan.

“Well, you are a princess, right?”

“Wasn’t I princess yesterday, though?”

“Aren’t you a princess every day?” Your heart skips a beat, and you focus on spreading jam on the pancake, and you grab it with your hand, not bothering with cutlery. It’s hot, but not hot enough to burn.

Jongdae doesn’t press on with his line, so after a first delicious bite, you decide to throw him a bone.

“God, it’s amazing.” Jongdae just smiles into the pan, and you continue eating, while observing him – resting against the counter.

“Be right back, I will bring it to Songbin.” He says after the moment, and grabs strawberry jam and plate with few pancakes and goes up the stairs. By the time he comes back, you are putting away your own plate. “Want more? I checked on Jeongeun, nothing is happening anyway. And if it was, she can always call us through intercom, right?”

You don’t know whether he saw hesitation in your eyes, but he was really quick to convince you to stay, so you do.

“Sure.” You say, wondering how angry and agitated is Jeongeun upstairs. It’s horrible, you know it, but it does give you pleasure to be winning this… Competition? Is it even competition? Anyway you do like being the one in the centre of Jongdae’s attention.

Just like now, when he smiles brightly at you.

“Do you want any particular shape?” He asks, pouring new oil onto the pan. The question takes you by surprise and you look around searching for inspiration.

“A rainbow?” You ask.

“But you do realize that I can’t make it colorful, right?”

“Oh, right. So maybe a unicorn?”

“A unicorn.” He repeats, as if to ensure he heard correctly. “Ok, unicorn it is.”

He grabs bottle with batter and starts to carefully pour it out on a pan through a nozzle drawing your unicorn. He is so focused that his tongue is peeking out, and you have to admit that he looks just adorable.

He takes his time and you know better not to disturb artist at work. Finally he puts bottle away, and looks up at you playfully.

“Jeongeun was easier with her order.” He says, and focuses back on the pan. Suddenly you feel lighter.

“And here I thought that you confessed to her.” You say impishly. Jongdae snaps his head up, and then as if he realized that it was unnecessary he looks down again.

“As if.”

Suddenly you are flustered, and you feel warmth creeping up your spine. Jongdae flips your pancake, and puts spatula away, hands dropping to rest on the counter. He looks up at you once again, and there is something in his eyes that tells you not to push it.

So you obviously do.

“Damn, and she would be so happy if you did that.” You say, wanting to kick yourself even as sounds keep pouring out of your mouth. Not only you are working against your own interest, you are also spilling secrets that are not yours to spill.

Jongdae bites inside of his cheek, and shifts on his feet.

“Don’t do that.” He says quietly, and immediately shame and rage are taking over you. You’ve been made.

“Don’t do what?” You ask gruffly.

He sighs, and slides your pancake on the plate and pushes it in your hands. You grab it, but you still look up at him defiantly, aggressively even.

“Don’t try to set me up with Jeongeun.” He says and turns off cooker. He grabs appliances and leaves kitchen without any word more.

Your face is burning. It’s shame and anger and relief. You weren’t trying to set him up with her, rather you were fishing for a certain proof he wasn’t into her.

And you got exactly that. But Jongdae’s assumption of your motive, and how easily he smelled that you had something different in mind when you tried to tease him made you really embarrassed.

But unicorn is so beautiful that you just can’t help yourself and you take a photo of it.

*

“Our princess came!”

You didn’t have scheduled shifts till the end of the week, so it’s been four days since you’ve been to your coffee shop. You are the last one to come, relieving Gayeon, and as soon as you walk through the doors Jongdae is screaming, well, _not_ your name.

You send him exasperated look, you have already forgotten how life with Jongdae looks.

“Can you stop calling me princess?” You ask, joining him in front of the coffee machine. He is playing around with steamer, so you push him with your hip, so you can make yourself coffee for a good shift.

He whines, but moves away, giving you full reigns over the machine. But he leans against the counter, and cocks his hip, and tries his best to look seductive.

And he succeeds.

“And why should I stop calling you princess? You _are_ my princess.” You shoot him a quick glance as you put on the grinder.

“Jongdae, I am not your princess.” You say over the noise of coffee being grounded. You barely catch Jongdae’s _that’s a shame_ , but you decide to ignore it, not knowing how to react to it. “And it sounds mean. As if you were mocking me. As if I had a princess illness or something like that.”

“Oh, well. That is certainly unfortunate.” He says, elongating vowels. You scoff at him, tamping your coffee. “So what should I call you?”

“I do have a name you know? Pass me milk.” You put your group handle in the socket and turn on the machine, putting cup under it. Jongdae moves to fridge and comes back with milk. Thankfully he doesn’t throw the box at you.

“Boring.” He states while opening the box for you and pouring milk into milk jug. Coffee is already pouring and its distinctive smell makes you feel at home. You take milk away from Jongdae and you purge the steamer nozzle. Jongdae jumps away from the stream threatening to burn him. “You didn’t have to attack me just because I said your name was boring. And I didn’t even mean it like this. It’s just… I like to use fun names with fun people. Your name is not boring, of course.”

“Am I fun people?” You ask with laughter in your voice, and move jug to put nozzle in the milk to foam it.

“Oh, yes, you definitely are.” He says with all conviction he could possibly muster, and you laugh at him, but say nothing as you focus on texturing your milk. Jug is getting hotter, and you turn it slowly listening to the sounds milk is making. When you are done you clean the nozzle, and purge steamer once again. You tap the jug on the counter to pop the bubbles, and grab the cup with your double espresso – ready to become cappuccino. But Jongdae is talking before you can pour milk in. “Make an unicorn.”

You scoff. Foam unicorn is not going to be as easy as pancake unicorn, but you bite your lip and nonetheless you try. You start pouring milk into coffee slowly, only starting to make body of the unicorn halfway into the cup.

“How about Champ? I liked Champ. If you don’t want to be my princess you can always be my champion.” Jongdae’s babbling is more of a background sound as you focus on the coffee art.

“Pass me little spoon.” You interrupt him, but he doesn’t mind. And even if he did, you wouldn’t care. Soon spoon is in your hand and you use its handle to draw legs, tail and horn of the animal. Toothpick is within your reach, even without you asking for it, and you use coffee to draw eyes and details on the white body made of foam.

It’s not perfect or gracious, but when you finish it clearly looks like an unicorn.

“See?” Says Jongdae excitedly. “You are a Champ! I am taking that!”

Before you can protest Jongdae grabs the cup, and runs away to show it to others, and you resign to the fact that you have to make yourself another coffee.

But as you take group handle out of the coffee machine, and you clean leftover coffee, you can’t stop yourself from smiling.


	2. Lungo

“Champ…”

You are bent over the counter, focused on milk foam. You are trying to form a 3D over the edge of the cup, and it’s not going well. It’s raining heavily and apart from people already inside (most of them entered just to escape from the rain), you don’t have any customers, nor you expect them to come. In that rain? You wouldn’t move your ass either.

“Champ…”

You are forming cat’s ear, and it’s really gruesome process, no easy by all means. You try to make sure your hand is steady, and not shaking with anticipation. It’s looking good, foam firm and smooth.

But of course around Jongdae nothing can have a happy ending – he comes behind you to whisper _Champ_ in your neck and you jump, cup shaking and coffee spilling.

“Jongdae!” You scream, and look around spoon in your hand, and you don’t even think about it – you throw spoon at him. It hits him in the arm, and he looks more amused than surprised.

“Damn, Champ, nice throw!” He sports shit-eating grin on his face and you just can’t cope with him, so you turn around to clean up the mess you’ve made because of him. Gayeon comes to your side, and you can see her shaking her head at Jongdae in the corner of your eye.

“Well, then I will drink it, and you can try to make a new one.” Gayeon grabs cappuccino cup, and wipes its bottom. You hear doors being closed and it looks like Jongdae made himself scarce.

“Hm? It tastes differently?” You glance at Gayeon contemplating her coffee. You shrug, even though she won’t see it, and move to the grinder. You open the top, coffee smell immediately engulfing you – strong and lasting, and take few beans out of it, to show her.

“I changed the blend.” You say, and she grabs your hand to inspect beans, and you can see her eyes narrow. “It’s not _only_ Arabica?”

“Songbin ordered Robusta instead of Arabica and we have to do something with it.” You say, moving beans on your hand with your thumb. “So he asked me to try different proportions, and 4:1 ratio seems quite good?”

“Isn’t it too bitter?” Gayeon asks, and you bite your lip. When you checked earlier it was good? You grab cappuccino out of her hand and take a sip. And yes, underneath milk and coffee with hazelnut finish you taste bitterness that shouldn’t be there.

“Oh? It’s too bitter. Should I try 5:1? But it’s surprising, when I tasted earlier it was ok?” Gayeon shrugs, and you decide to check again, and turn on the grinder.

You both wait for espresso to fill the cup and then you reach for it eagerly, but Gayeon is quicker. You give her a stinky look, but she only raises her eyebrows at you and tastes coffee.

“It’s good, though?”

“What?” You grab the cup, and as soon as the liquid hits your tongue, you know she is right. “Do you think it’s milks fault? It can’t be, though.”

Behind you doors open, and you look around to see Jongdae’s head in the doorway. He tries to look apologetic, but he is failing. You immediately become suspicious.

“What did you do to my espresso?”

“I changed settings from espresso to lungo, while you weren’t looking.” Of course. Longer pull and more water means more bitterness. How did you not that there is more water than it should be, is beyond you.

And of course there is this part about Jongdae pulling another prank on you. As always successfully.

“What did I do to be punished by your company?” You ask rhetorically and walk away.

“Hey! That was mean!” You hear a whine behind you, accompanied by Gayeon’s laugh.

*

“Champ…” You are in the middle of helping customer choose ice cream flavors. Elder customers are always difficult when it comes to that.

“Champ...” There is a characteristic sound of cash drawer being opened, and you count coins you received. A blessing in your coin-needing drawer. Elder couple goes to sit, and you turn around to face Wonjae, who takes order out of your hand to read it.

“Champ!~” You have no idea why he is still at work. Jongdae finished his shift half hour ago, but he was still sticking around, irritating the hell out of you. He kept leaning over the counter, on the customers side, where you serve orders to go, calling for you.

“Jongdae.” You finally answer, not able to put up with this shit any longer. “I have order to prepare.”

“Nah, you don’t.” Says Jongdae, lazy smile spreading on his face. It shouldn’t work like that, but when you see his face, something in you tells you that the order can wait. But you are not going to let that voice take over. “Wonjae will manage this once.”

“I can manage always.” Calls Wonjae, offended, and you turn around to send him unhappy glance.

“See?” Asks Jongdae satisfied.

“Ok, what do you want.” You ask, crossing arms on your chest. Jongdae leans more forward.

“Coffee.” He whispers, and it shouldn’t be sultry, but it is.” Double shot cappuccino please, with vanilla shot.”

“Fries with that?” Irony is oozing from your voice, but you use it to fight the feeling that Jongdae’s face is too close to yours, and you are uncomfortable, especially since he doesn’t look down, focusing on your eyes. There is this prickly feeling on your scalp, and it’s not unpleasant.

“Guys, not at work.” Whines Gayeon, behind you, and you immediately take a step back, feeling your face heat up. You move to coffee machine, seeing Jongdae straighten and send Gayeon a _look_. You don’t know what his stare means, but you don’t focus on that, because Wonjae is laughing at you. You bite your lip and focus on preparing Jongdae’s order.

“Why are you still here, by the way?” It’s Gayeon talking to Jongdae. You reach for paper cup, group handle already in place, dark liquid dribbling into jug. You grab another one to foam milk.

“Aha. You don’t want me here? Fine. I will go. Woah. Nice of you. Really nice. I guess that’s it for friendship, right? Damn, Gayeon, I never thought you will be the one the betray me, but…” You roll your eyes, exasperated even though he is not talking at you.

“Shut up, Jongdae.” She says flatly, and you hear him laugh. It takes you by surprise. You don’t see him, but you can tell that he dropped his always-joking façade. Why he never did that with you?

“I have appointment around here at 4PM.” He says, and wow, Jongdae is talking with a girl without sounding like he wants to bang her. You touch metallic jug by accident and it burns you, and you hiss quietly and put the jug with foam away, burned finger grabbing your ear to gather warmth from it.

“Oho! A date? Jongdae, you have a _date_?” Gayeon seems to be excited and… teasing? That is a right word.

“Fuck off, will you.” He says, but there is a laughter in his voice. You pour coffee into the cup, and add shot of vanilla syrup into it. It seems like Jongdae has a date, and that is certainly a juicy gossip. But at the same time you are jealous. Jongdae pranks you often enough for you to consider it his version of “braids-pulling” from elementary school, but seems like your wishful thinking lead you astray.

But it’s ok, in the end you knew you didn’t have a chance with him eitherway.

“Jongdae has a _daaaateeeee~~”_ Gayeon sings, and Wonjae, who just came back from bringing the elder couple their order laughs. You wish for Gayeon to shut up. It’s not nice, but you have to deal with your feelings before you can tease Jongdae about it as well.

“It’s not a date.” He says mildly irritated. “I have hairdresser appointment, you little shits.”

“Sure.” Teases Wonjae. “If it was for real you’d say barber. Ain’t fooling us, mate.”

You pour milk into the cup, not even trying to make any coffee art. But as foam starts to appear from under crema it takes a shape of heart. Which is obvious, but you hardly ever do hearts on cappuccino, so you forgot about that one detail.

You turn around and place cup in front of Jongdae, where both Wonjae and Gayeon can see it.

“Look! There is a heart for you to give to your mysterious lady!” Laughs Wonjae, and Jongdae just covers it with a lid, shaking his head.

“Thanks, Champ.” He says quite normally, but then his face changes, back into his usual grin, and it seems like he has to correct himself into that persona. “Gonna miss me when I’m gone?”

“Nope.” You say flatly, feeling cheated. Why can’t he be himself with you, when he clearly can with Gayeon and Wonjae, and… Does he have a girlfriend or not?

“Oww! I know you will.”

“Believe me, I won’t.”

“Don’t worry, I left my stuff in the social room, so I will be back after my appointment!”

“Don’t care.”

“I know you do.”

*

Jongdae does come back.

Blond.

“The fuck you did with your head?” Asks Wonjae, and it’s loud and you turn around from where you are restocking napkins, but when you see blond Jongdae clearing entrance, scolding dies on your tongue. Gayeon peeks out from dish washing station, and she is also lost for words.

Jongdae seems satisfied.

“I dyed it.” He says proudly reaching take-away counter and leaning against it. Gayeon takes off protective gloves and runs her hand through Jongdae’s hair.

“Why?” She asks entranced, and you wish you could do that. Run your hand through his hair. Not to torture yourself anymore you turn back to your napkins.

“Because I could.” He says confidently, and Gayeon laughs. Wonjae audibly scoffs.

“Don’t you think it’s gay?” He asks.

“Well, I am comfortable enough with my manhood not to fear such accusation. Are you?” Your body moves out of its own volition. You snicker, and turn slightly, to face Gayeon, who also turned to lock eyes with you. You both snicker once again.

Jongdae hums pleased.

There is a deft sound, Jongdae hisses, and you turn around to see Jongdae rubbing his arm, making face at Wonjae, who apparently just hit him.

“Was it for a girl, Jongdae?” Asks Gayeon, with eyebrows waggle. Immediately you go back to napkins. Boxes are full, so you move to put them away – but it’s not far enough not to hear Jongdae’s answer.

He clears his throat first.

“Maybe.”

“ _The_ girl! I see the topic is back.” Wonjae seems happy to grill Jongdae.

Closing time is nearing, so you let them tease Jongdae, while you decide it’s time to restock _everything_.

It’s just – you don’t want to be a part of this conversation. You don’t feel comfortable enough with your feelings to be part of this conversation.

But Gayeon seems to have something different in mind.

“Do you think it’s enough to get him _the_ girl.” She asks you, and you feel trapped, but you obediently look up to asses Jongdae’s new hair, hand clenching on the plastic spoons pack. He is looking at you earnestly, and you can feel a pinprick of pain in your heart. Does he want it to be enough for him to get that girl?

“You mean the hair?” You ensure, feeling your throat go dry. It is an unusual color for person with his carnation, but he doesn’t look _bad_. Who are you kidding, he looks great. “I guess so.”

“You can do better than that.” Says Gayeon flatly, and you steal a quick glance at her, and she is leaning against coffee maker, and there is something devilish in her eyes.

Jongdae is quiet, which is not unusual, it just never happened.

“Well, ok, you look handsome, but if the girl didn’t want you before, I don’t think changing your hairstyle is going to change her mind.” You say, and here, it’s out of your mouth, the fact that for you he looks handsome, and you are terrified. So you throw spoons on the counter. “I am going down to send cups and, uh, stuff.”

“Even though you should _ask_ _the girl out_.” Says Gayeon pointedly right in the same moment, and she turns around to you when she realizes that you are going downstairs, but you don’t want her to stop you and you just run away.

In the kitchen you realize that you have no idea what is lacking upstairs, so you just try to figure it out, by usual lift content at the end of the shift. Working calms you down, and it help you not freak out at the fact that Gayeon is upstairs talking Jongdae into confessing, and it makes you anxious, but curious.

You never thought Jongdae would be person that needs the pep-talk before chatting up a girl.

After a while Wonjae comes down to check up on you.

“You really think that he looks handsome with that hair?” He asks, pushing water bottles into the lift, and you sigh. You knew the moment you saw his legs on the stairs, that he is going to start this topic. Why nothing can be easy in this work.

“Well, Jongdae is just handsome. Blond hair, dark hair, no difference.”

Wonjae scoffs under his nose, and you just shrug at him. It’s easy to say that. It’s just true. You can say that universally – Jongdae is handsome. There is nothing here about you finding him handsome.

Even if you do.

Even if it pisses you off.

Even if it pisses you off, but you can’t imagine working without him, and his stupid jokes and even more ridiculous pranks.

“Ok, I am sending the lift up, and you can go and unpack it, and I will clean the kitchen.” Wonjae says, and you nod.

Upstairs Gayeon is washing the dishes, Songbin is still barricaded in the office, and Jongdae is still leaning against the counter.

“Don’t you have home?” You ask him incredulously. It’s been hours since his shift ended, and he is still here. Unbelievable.

“I don’t.” He says, and when you look at him he is pouting.

He is back to being an idiot. Why he is only ever an idiot, when you are around.

After that you ignore him and focus on unpacking the lift. You know that for a longer while he stares at you, and then he gets bored. That’s Jongdae. Easily bored, quick to change his point of focus.

But he can be helpful – you see him bringing Gayeon dishes from the room, which is nice considering the fact that he is not being paid. He even wipes tables when last customer is gone. Songbin comes out of his office to close cash register, and you go out to the customers area to clean floor. Jongdae helps you along, moving chairs and tables out of the way.

He is unusually quiet again, and it scares you. Even more when Songbin disappears, and again it’s only the two of you.

“Fancy beer after work?” He asks suddenly, and you glance at him, smelling trap. But again, beer after work is always nice.

“Sure, why not?” You say, and you turn around to face backdoors. “Gayeon!”

“Wait!” Jongdae sounds panicked, and you realize he grabbed your hand.

“What do you want?!” Screams Gayeon from backroom, and you blink slowly at Jongdae.

“I meant, like, us. The two of us.” He says urgently. Quietly.

“What!” It’s Gayeon, her head appearing in the doors, and Jongdae lets you go. You are flustered, and confused, but you take a deep breath.

“Oh, sorry, um, Jongdae, just, uh, surprised me, that’s all.” You say shakily, and Gayeon sends Jongdae annoyed stare, and she shakes her head.

“Play nice.” She warns and goes back.

You look after her, feeling how your heart is thumping in your chest. The two of you? Only the two of you? _Why?_

Is it because…?

 _God,_ please let it be.


	3. Doppio

_You_ are anxious. Yes. Again. What’s new, fam?

It all was going quite well. You finished cleaning store without any problems, you didn’t take much time changing into civil clothes – your excitement was your wings.

And you left the store with the trepidation of your heart.

So what happened?

Wonjae happened. Wonjae and Gayeon and Songbin to be exact. They and one question.

“So, beer?” It was Wonjae who proposed, but Gayeon’s excited _yeah_ , and Songbin’s nodding added to your misery.

Jongdae is standing next to you, silently, and you don’t know what to do. Of course you _want_ to go with Jongdae only, but you don’t know how to do that without the rest growing suspicious – and what if Jongdae changes his mind and agrees to go, after you make up some excuse not to go? You’d be forced to go home, and you don’t want that. If not with Jongdae, you will do with drinking with the rest.

But you want to go with _Jongdae._

“Uh, guys, I think I’ll, um, pass this time. My wallet is in no shape to go.” You say apologetically, and amongst whines you look to Jongdae. Others focus on him as well.

“Nah, guys I think I had enough of your faces for today.” He says, and the relief you feel is intense.

“Bullshit.” Says Wonjae, grabbing Jongdae by his neck, and trying to put him into wrestling lock. “You would have gone home, instead sticking around.”

Jongdae laughs, and pushes Wonjae away.

“Another time, fellas!” He says, and waving  starts walking away. After about six steps, he stops, and turns away. “Champ?”

“Oh, right.” You say, and feel your face warm up. “See you tomorrow!”

You wave and do this funny speedy walk when you want to catch up with somebody, and you fall in step with Jongdae, hoping that no one would catch on the fact it’s not the way to your bus stop, and hoping Jongdae knows where you are going and that you won’t end up in the same parlor as the rest of the today’s afternoon shift.

There is no usual swagger in Jongdae’s walk, as he leads you through the alleys. When you reach your destination Jongdae opens doors for you, and you are forced to go first into staircase leading you underground.  It does look shady, no sign or anything on the doors, and you turn around to check on Jongdae, not really coherently.

He bites his lip, clearly trying not to laugh, and motions for you to go on. It takes you two flight of stairs, and you are faced with obscure doors. Without turning around to get reassurance, you bravely grab handle and push it open.

It’s surprisingly mellow. The room you are faced with. Crooked wooden tables, old tattered chairs, massive oak counter and old pool table with nearly no upholstery. But it’s still clean and well kept. Jongdae leads you to one of the little tables next to music box and points you to beaten armchair, sliding on the chair in front of you.

Immediately waiter appears and without a single word leaves menu on the table with water and simple snack rings.

“They have mean flavored beer.” Jongdae says, resting his crossed arms on the table. Suddenly his shoulders look broader, and you are getting intimidated. You obediently flip menu to beer selection and find flavored beers. You suspect that you’d order one f those even if you didn’t like flavored beers. But there is some kind of anxiousness oozing from Jongdae, and you wouldn’t want to set him off.

Suddenly you miss idiot-Jongdae.

“Green grape looks nice?” You shrug, and Jongdae calls your waiter.

“One green grape beer, and one draught beer.” He says, and you feel cheated. He recommended flavored beer and chose draught.

“And what do you want on the side?” Asks waiter, and Jongdae focuses on you. You didn’t check that part of menu.

“Uh, some fritters?” Jongdae smiles, as you’ve given correct answer.

“Firtters mix.” He clarifies to the waiter, and he makes himself scarce. “They have good fritters, here. Sweet potato is a piece of art.”

You laugh. People, that describe comfort food as art, are your kind of people. Your laughter seems to put Jongdae at ease, since he relaxes into his chair, looking at you. Under his gaze, you look away, unable to stand his scrutiny, and start playing around with your hair. You feign checking out interior of the bar, and in the corner of your eye you see Jongdae coughing and fixing himself in his seat.

Beer is here, so you take a sip, growing awkward. Beer is good. Really good actually.

“How is it?” Asks Jongdae.

“Um, good.” You say, and only then Jongdae takes a sip of his own drink.

Why is it so awkward? Why Jongdae is sitting silently? Where is idiot-talkative-Jongdae when you need him?

Fritters come and deep fried sweet potato is a thing of beauty. This time Jongdae doesn’t have to ask if you like it.

“Oh, my, god, it’s amazing.” You moan, and broad smile you get is everything.

For a moment you focus on eating, but when you’ve tried everything, you relax back into the armchair, taking your glass with you. It seems like it’s a sign for Jongdae, because he takes a sip of his beer (courage?) and leans forward.

“Can we… No, could you, um, can you help me? Would you help me?” He doesn’t seem like himself, so you shift uncomfortably.

“What’s wrong Jongdae?” You ask, thankful that there is table between you. Once again your anxiousness spikes.

“I have something to tell you,” he says, looking at the table,” but I don’t know how.”

“I am not going to judge you.” You say, heart growing in your ribcage. Is he going to confess…?

He takes a deep breath, but releases it after a second, shoulders deflating. If you remember it some other time, his visible struggle to muster courage is going to bring smile to your face. But not now. Now, waiting is excruciating.

“Ok, no, let’s try it differently.” He says, and rests his elbows on the table. There is an air change about him, and you don’t know exactly what happened. “I have a very mundane problem.”

“Problem?” You repeat, confused and mildly offended. He glances at you with a shy, but playful smile. Uh-oh, idiot-Jongdae is coming.

“So I have this girl I like…” He says, and you can see him talking, but you don’t hear him. Do you know what it means to get your hopes up to get the crushed? It’s really infuriating experience, but also extremely painful. And it’s a second time today you feel it, a second time today you get news of Jongdae having somebody, liking somebody, it doesn’t matter.

And it’s cruel that he took you out to ask for _relationship advice._ He doesn’t know it, but it’s just _cruel_. And you don’t even get a chance to deal with your feelings – with him sitting in front of you and describing his problem, when _he is your problem_. You have to bottle your own feeling up, and help him. It’s not like you have a choice in that matter.

You bat your tears away, and sit straighter, clearing your throat.

“Ok, wait, wait,” you say, raising your hands at still talking Jongdae, who falls silent. “What do you want from me?”

He seems taken aback for a second, but then he smiles at you.

“You are a girl.”

“A girl.” You repeat, incredulous.

“Yeah, and you told me that hairstyle change is not enough to get a girl, so I thought you’d have some pointers on that matter.” He says and smiles – as if that smile would make you do it.

He is right, it would.

“I am not sure if I’m the best person to be giving out relationship advice, since I am single.” You say, and you immediately regret it. Why. Why did you have to say that.

“Nah, you are just perfect for it.” He says and there is a shine in his eyes that tells you he is laughing at you. Perfect. “So, what would make her fall for me?”

 _Your smile was enough for me_. This time you don’t say that out loud, but you still feel pathetic.

“I am not really sure, you know? Different things work for different people.” You say, and snatch one more fritter. Jongdae pushes the platter in your direction, to make it easier for you to reach it, and your heart swells.

“Yeah, I know, but well, some of it should be universal, right? What would work for you? What do you like in guys?” He asks, and you munch on your fritter, feeling more and more depressed. So he is going to use things on her that you’d love to experience.

You sigh, and put yourself back together.

“Oh, I don’t really know, but I guess simple kindness can be hot?” You say, and Jongdae cocks his head, and he looks like listening puppy.” I mean, like you just did with the platter? It was sweet of you to push it in my direction. Opening doors, and helping with heavy things, and walking closer to the road on the pavement.” Jongdae raises his eyebrows at you, and you feel yourself warming up.” Hey, you asked! It’s just… I know women fight for equality and stuff, but it’s still nice to feel protected? But again, it would work on me, but there are girls out there that won’t like it.”

“I always thought that you like your independence, and that you are one of those _I-don’t-need-no-man_.” He says, and now you are really blushing.

“Thank you. That’s nice of you.” You say caustically. He raises his hands apologetically.  

“Ok, got that. Manly helping hand. What’s more?”

You exhale heavily.

“Well, girls like to know that you like them. I mean, “you correct yourself when he looks at you skeptically,” I think that we are more receptive to a guy that shows his interest? I don’t really know how to explain it, but if the guy is paying attention to me, especially when he pays more attention to me than other girls, I feel better about myself, and in turn I find myself liking this guy more. Oh, god, that’s embarrassing.”

“But helpful!” Jongdae says brightly, and your heart falls. “More!”

You look at your glass and take a sip. You are spilling everything either way, so you might as well bury your coffin.

“I don’t know how is your relationship with that _girl_.” You couldn’t stop your voice from breaking a little, so you mask it with a cough at Jongdae’s concerned face.” But you have to know that you can’t drop everything and just shower her with attention. It can be hard, but if you focus on her only, she could feel burdened. But if you dose your attention and your flirting she might find herself craving for it. Healthy jealous can also be your friend. I mean, if you flirt with her, and she likes it, and then she sees you doing similar thing with other girl, you might spark jealousy in her. Women are really competitive, you know? We work on _his mine_ mindset a lot.”

“Ok.” He says thoughtfully. You try not to think about the fact that you just described the way you’ve fallen for him. Because you did.

Dammit, you’ve fallen for Jongdae.

“But let’s say I am doing it. And let’s say it’s working. How can I check if it’s working?” He asks.

“God, I don’t know.” You say, shrugging.” Sorry.”

“Just imagine how would you react.” He presses, and you feel trapped.

“I don’t know! She will be probably embarrassed around you, or anxious, I have no idea. Search it online or something.” You say guardedly, and look away. You feel drained and you drink the rest of your beer.

That calms Jongdae down.

“Do you want another one?” He asks. Do you want one more beer and sit here longer? As if. Enough of torture for one day.

“No, thank you, I am tired, and I just want to go home.” You say, reach for your bag. You fish your wallet out, but Jongdae stops you.

“I got it.”

“C’mon I can pay for myself.” You really don’t want him paying for you. And making you fall for him even more.

“No, really, let’s say it’s a thank you.”

“You should save that for your girl.” You say, trying and failing to keep your bitterness out of your voice.

He just smiles brightly at you and goes to pay.

He opens doors for you when you go out, and hails the cab for you. Once again he opens doors for you, and you want to scream at him to stop. You can’t have him being nice to you, all gentleman-like, when he is not going to be yours.

He places his hand on the doors frame to make sure you won’t hit your head when you get into the cab. You have to choke back your tears.

He stands on the pavement waving, when cab pulls away.


	4. Breve

Your hand shakes a little while you are pouring foamed milk into latte glass, and it dribbles down the side of the glass.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” You mumble as you reach for a tissue to clean it up. Great, now you screw up the easiest shit. Angry at yourself you set the glass aside, and move to prepare espresso shot.

“Are you going somewhere?” You hear Wonjae behind you, and you turn around a little bit surprised, because no, you are not going anywhere, but you see him facing Jongdae, who has just arrived. You immediately turn back to the coffee machine, but you do manage to spot sports bag thrown over Jongdae’s shoulder.

“Nah, mate.” You hear him say, and then you turn on the grinder, wishing it to drawn out Jongdae’s voice. You don’t know if he speaks up louder, but unfortunately you still hear him over the roar.” I just decided to start going to the gym. Break a little sweat for a girl I like.”

You turn around with a handle in your hand just as he says the last word, and your eyes lock, and he sends you a bright smile. Yup, there it is, another little thumbtack in your heart. You ignore him, and put more force than necessary into tamping coffee and putting handle into socket.

“Dude. Just cut it.” Says Wonjae disapprovingly. You watch espresso dribble down into jug, sighing internally. So now he wants to make himself even more handsome? Maybe it’s your time to hand in your notice.

“Don’t wanna.” Jongdae says playfully, and you hear him walk to the backroom doors.

“You are a dick, you know?” Calls Wonjae after him. Well, your mind is ready to agree with that statement, but your heart… Your heart isn’t.

It’s been a week. It’s been a long, infuriating week. After your night out Jongdae started behaving as if the two of you had a secret, something like personal joke, and he’d mention _the_ _girl he likes_ every time he could get away with it.

That was hard. That was horrible, that was painful.

But him being extra nice and extra gentleman to you – that was torture. It was as if he decided to try out your advices on you – and with you already head over heels for him, it was just pushing you deeper into your misery.

You actually stared to wish for him to get the girl. You wished she would reciprocate his feelings, so he would stop pestering you, so he would leave you alone and focus on that mysterious other girl.

You knew nothing about her, and yet you hated her, despised her, and yet you wished she’d do what you couldn’t – have him.

Wonjae takes latte from in front of your face, giving you a weird look, and you realize you’ve been staring at it, without moving. Those kinds of pauses started happening to you more and more, and you couldn’t even tell anyone why were you so down.

“Soon it will be better.” Says Wonjae quietly, and pats your back, and you look up at him surprised. What is he talking about? He smiles at you apologetically, and gives your shoulder a squeeze, and goes to deliver latte with tiramisu cake to waiting client.

“Do I see flirting in a work place?” Asks Jongdae who just came back, buttoning up his uniform shirt. Wonjae kicks him, latte shaking on his tray. Once again you ignore them, and walk over to the lift, to drag carton of milk boxes and put it away. There are quick steps behind you and suddenly Jongdae is there, and he is taking the box out of your hands.

“I got it, Champ.” He says with a wink, and your heart sinks. You wish he didn’t. You wish he wouldn’t, but you still notice how his arms flex when he secures his hold on the box and walks to unpack it into refrigerated drawer under coffee machine. “How is life?”

“Great.” You say plainly.

“Is it because I am in it?”

“Sure.” Him being in your life makes you miserable. But you can’t say that.

Especially now, when he follows you like a love-sick puppy. Whenever you need something he brings it, whenever you have to move something heavy, he is there to do it in your place, when you serve ice-cream, and it’s really frozen and you have hard time scooping it, he magically appears at your side and scoops it for you, putting it directly into a cone you are holding.

Which is so _sweet_. But painful.

He stands up, and dismantles carton, throwing it away.

“Coffee?” He asks, grabbing handle, and you shake your head.

“No, I will go to wash the dishes.”

It’s your haven. There is only one person needed at the washing station, and there is not enough space for a second one either way, and machines are too loud to comfortably talk. So you escape, leaving two boys to take care of the store.

Dish washing is quite calming, albeit can be quite disgusting. But you don on protective gloves and go on with work. It’s strictly mechanical, you don’t need to think about what you are doing, washing dishes and putting them into steamer. Wonjae brings you dirty glasses, and strikes up a quick conversation, which you can hold, because steamer is not yet on.

When you see Jongdae coming through your little window, you turn the steamer on. He does seem amused, but you don’t care. This way you can stop him from sputtering any more nonsense. Or mentioning _that girl_.

You dread the moment when steamer ends its cycle, but it’s Wonjae who comes to retrieve the dishes (but you hear a loud whine when Jongdae realizes he was beat). Wonjae says nothing as he silently puts dishes on the tray, and you thank him for that.

When steamer is empty, you put second load in, and go out to cool yourself down – it’s always hot and humid next to the steamer, no wonder there though.

Jongdae is on the cash register and you see a new order waiting, so you grab it. It’s two sundaes – you consider this nice and easy order, so you grab two sundae glasses, pour icing on their sides and go to fill them with whipped cream, but machine is empty.

You sigh, and turn to open refrigerated drawer where you store heavy cream. You store it in 3l containers, so it can be considered heavy, and you are not surprised when male hands grab it out of your arms.

You are surprised when you see Wonjae instead of Jongdae, though. And when you see Jongdae with a blank face over Wonjae’s shoulder.

Wonjae pours cream into machine, and stuffs container back in the drawer.

“Here you go.” He says indifferently, and walks away, being glared at by Jongdae.

“Thanks.” You say weakly, and grab glass to finish order.

It happens again later, when you have problem with scooping out mint-chocolate (damn mint-chocolate always frozen!) and Wonjae comes to your aid. With Jongdae being a step behind, and clearly unhappy.

It rubs you the wrong way, you don’t like a thought of being a tool in their games. You are suffering enough with Jongdae only.

That’s why when pancake order comes in you send Jongdae to do it. This way, you don’t have to be around Jongdae, and you don’t leave the two of them together to do devil knows what. Jongdae salutes you lazily, and it’s an epitome of sexiness, and you need a drink.

You realize Wonjae is observing you, and you turn questioning gaze to him. He shrugs.

“I will probably never understand women.” He says, shaking his head, and leaves you alone behind the counter, as he cleans customer’s area.

You are dumbfounded – what is happening lately with those two?

*

“My whole body hurts.” Whines Jongdae and you are tempted to ignore him, but he knows you are here, and he knows you can hear him.

At least you can roll your eyes, and he won’t see it.

Today both of you start your shift at the same hour, and right now you are in the lockers’ room. There is no different rooms for men and women, but as a general rule girls have lockers on one side of the room, boys on the other, and there is row of the lockers in the middle of the room, separating two sides. Another general rule is no-peeping.

“What were you doing?” You ask to be polite, taking off your shirt. You can hear him hustling on the other side of lockers’.

“My coach wasn’t in, and his replacement was this mad girl, and man, she pulled me through a wringer.” You smile – a thought of another girl giving Jongdae hell is appealing. You put on your uniform shirt as you answer.

“Maybe you deserved it.” There is silence, and soft steps, and you turn your head around, and there is shirtless Jongdae leaning from behind the lockers’ row, staring at you blankly. You have your back to him, so he can’t see anything, and you get to see his chest, which is a really nice thing to see, but still.

“Do you mind?” You ask pointedly, your fingers working to button your shirt.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” He says, pursing his lips, and walking out from his side, to lean against the drawers, folding his hands on his chest.

You feel attacked. His deltoids are nice and round, and they pop out in this position, and once again it hits you that all of that is for another girl.

Your mood falls.

“Can you go and dress yourself?” You ask, turning away from the sight, angry and annoyed. At yourself. As always at yourself.

“How could you say I deserved that?” He answers your question with his own, and man, he has no empathy. This time you ignore him, pushing your things into your locker, and walking past him, even as he calls after you.

He tries to flirt with you, while half naked, after asking you to help him with getting a girl? You are not going to be part of this shit anymore, he can go and fuck himself.

You won’t allow him to hurt you anymore than he did.

It’s Friday afternoon, and it’s a busy time for your shop, so there is already Gayeon, Wonjae and Hyun in, and you know that in an hour Jeongeun will come. Thankfully so, because as soon as you walk in you see Hyun on the cash register with at least eight orders pending and long queue, Wonjae doing his best at the ice-cream cabinet, and Gayeon working two coffee machines at the same time. You tap her, and take the one that faces customer area, and you assess it, as you check what should you start making. You see only two tables empty, but there are covered with dishes and trash, probably gathered from the other tables.

You grab cups and turn the grinder on, smiling to Wonjae when you catch his eye. He does a quick pantomime of dying, and you snicker, focusing back on the grinder. You tamp coffee, as you clean socket of coffee residue.

“Milk.” Calls Gayeon from behind you, and you kick drawer under your coffee machine open, and blindly hand it to her. Two handles are in the sockets and espressos are pulling, and you are spreading dishes on the tray, to serve ordered cakes along coffees.

Jongdae comes in, and now he is not a bane of your existence – he is just colleague that needs to be immediately sent to clean the tables.

“Jongdae, tables…” You don’t need to say anything more, he is out from behind a counter and goes to work.

You actually like that – when everybody does their job, and they do it efficiently. The worst thing to have is a new worker on busy day. It’s just infuriating.

Orders don’t stop. Both you and Gayeon don’t move from your posts for the whole hour, until Jeongeun comes, and then Gayeon disappears to wash dishes, Jeongeun taking her place behind you. Jongdae spends most of his time taking care of the customers area, bringing orders to awaiting clients and bringing back dirty dishes. Later he changes with Wonjae, who relieves Hyun at the cash register, and Hyun takes Jongdae’s place on the customer’s area.

“Milk!” Calls Jeongeun, and once again you open the drawer, and take out last box of milk. You hand it to her, as you scan area thinking who could you send down for more milk. Hyun comes back to take two cappuccinos to older couple.

“I will take it, can you go down for milk?” You ask urgently, and you nod.

“Send also paper cups! 400ml and 300ml!” Chips in Jeongeun.

“We need napkins and plastic spoons.” Calls Jongdae. You don’t stay to hear more orders, grabbing the tray and pushing past Hyun. As you come back from delivering the order, you clean empty table and bring dishes to Gayeon, who smiles at you brightly – her work is the easiest now. You give her a stinky eye, and hurry back to your station. Hyun is still gathering orders, looking quite overwhelmed, and Jeongeun looks annoyed as she tries to go out with a tray filled with coffee orders.

In retrospect you should have know. In retrospect, you were looking at her tray, and your intuition told you it’s not smart nor safe. But you kept coming closer.

She pushes past Hyun, just when he tries to turn around and go down stairs – they collide, tray falling forward, showering you in coffee and glass and ceramics. Suddenly store falls silent at the horrible ruckus that falling dishes make. The first splatter of liquid on your is hot, but fabrics of your clothes is made to protect you, and you all wear aprons from waist down, so your legs were protected. And Jeongeun knows how to make coffee, so her milk is not hotter than 70°C, and it’s all good, but it still sends you into a shock.

“Are you alright?” Is the question that falls from every throat around you, and you have no answer to that. You look down dumbfounded.

“I don’t have spare shirt.” You say slowly, and look up lost, your brain not yet connecting what is happening around you. Gayeon emerges from backroom armed with mop and bucket, and it wakes you up.

“I have a spare shirt to borrow,” offers Jongdae, and you look up at him, and nod. You take a deep breath, and even though coffee starts to cool down on your body, and you can feel mild burns on your hands, you get your shit together.

Queue is still waiting.

“Wonjae, for a moment you have to work both cash register and ice-cream cabinet, Jongdae run for the shirt so I can change, Hyun, can you please clean it up, and Gayeon and Jeongeun, take coffee.” It’s not like you are shift manager, but when you talk people tend to listen, so you quite naturally find yourself in the leading position. And everybody listens. “I will go to send the list up, and Jongdae bring me the shirt to the kitchen.”

And just like that everybody is working, and you grab the list and go down, Jongdae holding doors for you, and fabrics of your clothes are sticking to your skin and that’s horrible, but you have to get through it.

Thirty seconds later Jongdae hands you the shirt and runs back upstairs to relieve Wonjae at ice-cream cabinet. You change, using kitchen’s sink to wash yourself, throw away your coffee-soaked apron, and you don on Jongdae’s shirt.

It’s too big. And it smells of him. And the buttons are on the wrong side of it, and it’s all wrong, and you are getting all emotional, but it still has a logo on your store on it, and it’s still an uniform, and you have a job to do.

Your hands hurt, but it’s manageable, so you work your way through the list, packing all into the lift (starting from milk, which was the most urgent). As the lift goes up and down between you and upstairs, you keep getting other orders through intercom, and there is also a pancake order, and you don’t think about how your arms burn, and how your hands shake – you just work.

You don’t know how long it takes before someone comes down to check up on you. You’ve already managed to make three different orders of pancakes and sent another carton of milk, and coffee beans two times, and you are strung out and tired.

And of course it has to be Jongdae, who comes down to check up on you. You are mixing heavy cream with powdered sugar, so later it can be whipped into whipped cream in the machine upstairs.

“Are you ok?” He asks, and suddenly you feel how not ok are you. It just all comes to you, a tsunami that sweeps through your nerve system, and you have to blink your tears away.

“Yeah.” You say, hearing how your voice wavers, and you hate yourself for this weakness. You hear his steps, and he takes whisk out of your hand, and gently pushes you away.

“I got it.” He says, and you let him, hanging your head low, biting your lip. “It has calmed down upstairs, so I can do it, and you can rest.”

They are falling. Your tears are slowly falling down your cheeks, and there is nothing you can do about it. You are hurt, both physically and emotionally, and he had to come and relieve you, and give you a chance to feel how badly you are hurt, now that you don’t have to focus on your work, and it’s just flooding you, and you don’t have enough strength to fight it.

“What’s wrong?” Says Jongdae suddenly, and you look up at him, and you purse your lips together not to sob and he is looking at you, without his playful or mocking face, without the mask he is usually wearing, he just looks worried, and it is a last straw.

You hiccup, now tears earnestly going down your face, and you don’t remember whether you used water-proof mascara today, knowing your luck you probably have black lines on your cheeks, and you look horrible – and it doesn’t make you feel better.

“Hey, hey, what is wrong?” He repeats softly, letting the whisk go, and turning to you, and he is so handsome and nice and gentle and stupid, and you love him and it hurts so much.

“Don’t be nice to me!” You sob and it takes him by surprise.

“What?”

“Don’t be nice to me!” You sob again, and then your words are flowing just as your tears are, and there is nothing that can stop you.” When you are nice to me it hurts, because I know that you have another girl that you like, and I know that I helped you to get her, and I know that you have feelings for her, and we are just co-workers, and we are friendly, but I can’t go on like this, because when you are nice to me I think that maybe, but no, and then I just…” Violent sobbing breaks up your not-so-coherent-speech, and you cover your face with your hands, and you shake, and you try to calm yourself down, but you can’t, and oh god, you just said that to him, and you nearly confessed, and fuck it – you are not going a better chance.” You can’t be nice to me, because I am falling for you, and that’s cruel, and…”

Once again violent sob stops you, and you know you look ugly, and sound ugly, and suddenly, there is a hand on the back of your head, and there is a hand on your back, and Jongdae brings you to him, and you have to take a step forward, and he is warm, and he smells like himself and his sweat, and your face is in his chest, and he is slowly patting your head.

Your hands grab the fabrics on his back, and you are embarrassed and hurt, but it’s amazing being in his arms, and it might be worth it. You don’t want to look up, content with crying into his chest, and he doesn’t seem hurried, so you take your time, letting yourself cry your eyes out, while he hums quietly, never ceasing in caressing your head.

When your sobs finally quiet down, you find yourself breathing into his chest, reluctant to let go.

“I am truly sorry.” He says and it’s unexpected, and you lean back to look at him. Little shit is smiling. In your face. His hand on your back is still there, but the hand from your head move to wipe the tears off your cheek (and probably smear mascara around).

“What?” You rasp, throat dry.

He does seem to be fighting his smile.

“I never thought that this would have hit you like that.”

“This?” You repeat, and he bites his lips, but you can see the corner of his mouth going up.

“I have feelings for _you_. This girl I like is _you_.” He says, as if he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.” I wanted to confess back in the bar, but you were so out of it and so anxious that I decided it will be better to let you realize how I feel about you, but man… You never did.”

You are staring at him blankly, disbelieving. Now he is blatantly smiling, brushing strands of hair out of your face. There is something happening in your stomach, it’s big and warm and bubbling, and you are not sure whether it’s happiness, or anger. Probably both.

You take the liberty to hide your face in his chest once more, feeling how quickly it warms up, and he laughs, and his arms around you tighten, and you _are_ happy. But you still can’t believe. And you can’t believe that he put you through whole this shit.

“I hate you.” You mumble into his chest, and he laughs again, and you hear how it rumbles in his body. “I fucking hate you.”

“I know.” He says cheerfully, and his hand splays on the back of your head, as he holds you close.

 _You_ are the girl _he likes_. _You_ are _the girl_ he started going to gym for. _You_ are _the girl_ he changed his hairstyle for. He likes _you_.

You allow yourself a little smile, since you are hidden from his stare. Right now you don’t even care that your hands are a little burned, although the feeling starts to fade already.

“By the way.” He says. “Since we are already dating, can I kiss you?”

Your heart does a somersault, and once again you lean back to look at him.

“Are we dating?”

“Uhm.” He hums, and leans down. “From today it’s a day one.”


	5. Cortado

“Can I have one cappuccino,” _one_ ,” one latte macchiato,” _one_ ,” one tart,” _one_ ,” and one rustic sandwich, please?” ONE.

He said that from today it’s your day one. It’s hard to focus on anything after that especially since everything seems to be bringing you back to that moment.

You smile at the client, your fingers working cash register, but your mind is far away. Or to be precise your mind is downstairs, with Jongdae hugging you.

In the end he didn’t kiss you. Jeongeun called, because they were out of plastic cups, and both you and your _boyfriend_ were reminded that the rest of the world exist, and you should probably be working.

Cash register clings as you put change on the counter, and turn around to prepare ordered coffee, but Gayeon is already grounding it, food on the tray. She smiles at you, and you look around having nothing to do at the moment. It has definitely calmed down (after your encounter downstairs there was one more wave, but as the day inched into evening it was definitely getting slower), but it doesn’t mean it is over – now you have time to clean up and get the place back in order.

Hyun is out in the customer’s area cleaning tables, and Jeongeun is downstairs with Wonjae restocking ice cream. The one person you are searching for is missing.

But you can hear faint sound of steamer working, and you are smart enough to figure where he is. You are walking to dish washing station even before you know it. On your way you grab a tray, to have an excuse of bringing clean dishes back.

Jongdae doesn’t hear you open the door. Your heart is already pumping harder, and you quietly place tray on top of the steamer, and you focus your eyes on his back, and you take a tentative step forward and your arms encircle his waist, cheek pressing against his clothes. He is warm.

And _yours_.

“I certainly hope it’s not Wonjae.” He says, and you snort quietly. “But that would certainly take our bromance to a new level.”

You say nothing, only nestling your cheek a little bit higher, and splaying your hands on his stomach. He _is_ warm. And you like the fact that you don’t seem to be disturbing him, as he goes on with dish washing.

“Are you wiping your make up on my shirt?” He asks, you lean back alarmed to inspect his _black_ shirt. There is a little bit of your foundation left, and you attempt to clean it with your hand, embarrassed.

Jongdae is laughing.

“Marking your territory, already?”

“Well, since it’s mine anyway.” You answer indignantly. You are happy, just happy. And you can tell that Jongdae is smiling.

Steamer ends its cycle, and you reluctantly let go. Time to back to work. You grab the tray, and open steamer taking dishes out and placing in on the tray, one by one. Jongdae turns off the tap, and turns around.

“How are your hands?” He asks, and you look down on your arms – red patches are barely visible.

“Good. It wasn’t that bad in the first place.” You say.

“Good. I wouldn’t want my goods damaged.” His smile is both mischievous and blinding as he takes tray out of hands.” Load the steamer, thanks!”

You can feel yourself blushing, and obediently you start to put dishes in the steamer.

Later you find yourself in front of coffee machine, wondering how it comes, that everything changed, and yet everything remains the same. When you asked Jongdae to pass you measuring cup earlier, he threw it, and you had to scramble to catch it (and you didn’t manage), and he shook his head at you, disappointed.

And when he passed by you he jabbed your ribs with his finger, and you yelped swatting his hand away. He was still bickering around with Wonjae, and annoying Gayeon, and using all his charms to talk female clients into buying more (sometimes male as well).

Only sometimes, when your eyes meet, his face would light up, bright smile appearing on it, eyes turning into little crescents.

The first real pang of annoyance you feel when pancake order comes in. Jongdae volunteers to do it, to no-one’s surprise. It’s a common knowledge he likes making them, because he considers it lesser hassle than working upstairs. Aside from that order there is nothing to prepare, so you all are wandering about without a clear purpose.

And it takes Jeongeun about thirty seconds to disappear from behind the counter. As doors close behind her you feel pressing need to follow her down, but you stop yourself from doing that. You never did that, and you are not going to do it now. Before, it was because you didn’t want to look needy, you didn’t want to look as if you were actively seeking his attention.

Somebody is calling you, and you look around, to find Wonjae looking at you with something in his eyes that you can’t place. Is it laugher? Is he laughing at you?

“Do you want to go and take a break?”

“What?” You repeat, and he raises his eyebrows at you. “But…” You start to protest. He was there before you. He should go first, and if not him then Gayeon, or Hyun. And you are not even hungry, why would you go for a break _now_?

“And while you are at it, call Jeongeun up, so we have here in case we need her.”

There is no one at the cash register, and it seems like it’s going to stay that way. Even if not - he is here, Hyun is here, and Gayeon is here, they don’t need Jeongeun, unless a cataclysm comes.

But…

You can peel her off Jongdae.

“Ok, I will do that.” You say, trying to keep your face straight, and Wonjae only nods turning around. Your steps are light when you go to retrieve your food from your locker, and when you reheat your pasta. Your pacing in front of the microwave is quite anxious, but finally your pasta is steaming, and armed with a fork you go down to the kitchen.

She is sitting on the cooking counter next to Jongdae warming up oil on the pan. The counter she is not supposed to sit on (for both sanitary and safety reasons). She is smiling brightly looking at Jongdae with her eyes coquettishly squinted, while Jongdae is whining about something.

“Jeongeun.” You call her and they both look at you. “You are needed upstairs.”

“What about you?” She asks pushing her chin forward, just when Jongdae spots steaming plate in your hand and calls: “Food!”

And just opens his mouth.

You come closer and stick few noodles on the fork, and push it into his mouth. Jongdae uses his teeth  to slide food off the fork and turns around to check his pan, chewing. Only then you focus on Jeongeun, who is looking at you with contempt. You try not to look smug.

“Me? I am on a break.” You say, taking a noodle off your fork, looking her straight in the eyes. Jongdae doesn’t turn around.

She scoffs, and jumps off the counter, and looks like she is going to say something, but in the end decides against it, and walks away.

You wait for her to disappear, and only then you take her place on the counter. Jongdae is looking at you amused, first pancake already on the pan.

“That was fun.” He says, and you squint at him, not knowing if he is making fun of you. “And hot.”

God better help him, if he is talking about Jeongeun. He is probably not, but just in case.

He seems to notice that you are not following him, so offers:

“You going into territorial dispute with Jeongeun?” He looks playful, and you bring your hand up to stuff his mouth with your food. He doesn’t fight it.

“I don’t know what are you talking about.”

*

“I should go to work?” You say quietly.

“Nah.” Is all you hear, and he kisses you again, crowding you against the wall. You are hidden in the back alley, where dumpster is. It’s not the most romantic place ever, but it works. So that’s enough. Jongdae tastes and smells of coffee, and interestingly it doesn’t seem to fade, even though you’ve been in here for about an hour.

An hour earlier you entered the shop, you arrived at the take-away station, you greeted your coworkers, and you didn’t answer when somebody asked why did you arrive an hour too early.

Jongdae did.

“So we can fuck like bunnies in the kitchen.” He said with straight face, sending people around in fits of laughter. Then, he dragged you outside, because he just finished his shift.

You don’t know how many people know you two are dating. You don’t advertize it. Jongdae is his annoying self, without any changes. It’s just… You work better together than you used to.

But you are quite sure Wonjae knows.

Jongdae painfully pulls your hair down, and you push him away. It’s not a conscientious, it rather just a way to make the pain stop.

“What was that?” He asks, stumped, when you rub the place which he hurt.

“I should be asking.” You say, and alarm appears on Jongdae’s face. Too late you realize what you’ve done.

His arms are on your neck, and your back, and he is bringing you close, and your nose is squished against his chest, and he is apologizing over and over again, and he is repeating mantra that he is not going to do it again, that he _didn’t mean to, please don’t be mad at me._ It’s suffocating and frustrating, and you keep hitting his sides, trying to free yourself – but both you and Jongdae know that under your annoyance there is amusement.

The amusement that makes you let him do whatever he pleases.

Finally you resign to something you vowed not to use too much (so it doesn’t lose its power), but this situation calls for special measures – you go for his armpit.

Yes, Jongdae is ticklish.

He jumps away from you with an undignified shriek. You both freeze observing the other one warily.

“That was cheating.” Whines Jongdae finally, stuffing his own hands under his armpits, looking like untrusting child.

“Was it, now?” You feel the power surging through your veins.

Suddenly doors leading to the alley open, and Wonjae’s head appears in the crack.

“Hm,” he starts as soon as his eyes find you,” your shift started like… twenty minutes ago?”

*

In the end you are forty minutes late. It’s not completely your fault, though. You rushed inside barely saying “see you later” to Jongdae, and you ran to locker room, where you stripped, nearly falling over in the process, and you slammed your locker open – but your uniform shirt wasn’t inside. You checked twice, expecting that it has fallen down from its hanger. You also checked your bag, because you may have taken it home (which was highly unlikely, because you remembered, quite clearly, leaving it after your last shift). Desperately you checked around, and sorted through _nobody’s pile_ , but it wasn’t there either.

You were already panicking, and you were _so_ late (it was your first time to be _this_ late), so you decided not to ask others and you just went to Jongdae’s locker – and thankfully his uniform was inside.

It wasn’t the freshest, but beggars can’t be choosers, and it did smell like him, so it wasn’t unpleasant.

But of course you’d prefer to have your own shirt.

“Nice of you to show up.” Says Jeongeun caustically, and you smile to her apologetically, even if her choice of words annoys you. It’s not like something is happening, and you are not a serial offender, it’s your first time to be _this_ late.

She asses you, and it hits you that she seems surprised. You narrow your eyes at her, annoyance raising. You really don’t want to jump to conclusions, but if someone were to hide your shirt – Jeongeun would be the one.

“Remember that today we have a meeting?” Songbin’s head pops up from his office, and you school yourself for scolding, but it doesn’t come. Instead Jeongeun whines exasperatedly, and you hear the same sound coming from coffee machine area, and you notice Gayeon scoffing.

It’s the end of the month – it’s time for stocktaking, general cleaning and month-summary. All after hours.

Thankfully the day is rather uneventful, customers leaving you alone, so you go about cleaning the shop. The faster you do it, the faster you can go home after hours (you’ll be paid for the meeting, but it’s never fun to end at 3 am, with morning shift next day).

Few minutes before the closing time other coworkers start to show up – attending this meeting is a must. You know they are arriving, because it starts getting louder, to the point where you can hear them even with steamer working behind you.

Doors open, and you smile slightly, without turning around. You’ve been missing him already, and sure enough there are hands on your sides, and when you say nothing, they slide to join on your stomach. You keep washing the dishes, warmth feeling you up. There is something different about him, though. It’s something you can’t really place, but you can _feel_ it.

“Did you use different perfumes?” You ask, when you notice that scent is different. Answer doesn’t come, but he starts shaking a little, and you realize that he is laughing silently. “What?” You ask irked, not knowing what have you said.

“Junior~” Doors open one more time and this time you look over there, recognizing Jongdae’s voice. He is standing in the threshold, voice cut-off. You slowly look around, realizing that it’s not Jongdae that is holding you, and Hyun bursts in laughter as soon as your eyes meet. You are exasperated, annoyed, embarrassed, and you swat him away. “Dude.” Jongdae doesn’t seem happy, and your heart skips a beat – but not because you feel scared or guilty – you realize why he was so happy about your _territorial dispute_ with Jeongeun.

“Chill, man, that was a joke.” You can still hear the laughter in Hyun’s voice, when he withdraws his hands to show them to Jongdae. “I just couldn’t believe you two were dating and I had to see it for myself.”

“And?” Promps Jongdae, stepping into enclosed space of the dish washing station – there is not enough space for the three of you, and you are getting uncomfortable. Especially when Jongdae pushes himself between you and Hyun – to which Hyun just shrugs, still amused.

“Congrats!” Hyun is daringly enthusiastic in the face of not so happy Jongdae. You shake your head at him, just when Jongdae hugs you from behind, just like Hyun did a moment ago pretending to be Jongdae. You are sure that your boyfriend is staring at Hyun warningly.

“Can you please…Keep it to yourself?” You ask Hyun, as you realize that this time everything is right, from smell through warmth and size of the person behind you. It _is_ Jongdae.

“Not a chance.” Laughs Hyun and disappears.

“Aren’t you going to do something about that?” You ask, moment after doors close – you’d expect some kind of reaction from Jongdae.

“You smell of me.” He murmurs into your hair instead.

“Oh, yeah, I couldn’t find my shirt, and I took yours, but what about…”

“That’s my shirt?” He confirms, and his head appears next to yours, looking down the front of the shirt you are wearing. His shirt. Now you only grow hot, realizing that the first and foremost he sees are your breasts hidden under black fabrics. He flips one of the bottom buttons with his finger. “Oh, it is. You look good, though.” He adds as if an afterthought.

“I always look good.” He hums to agree, and you focus back on the dishes, at least until you feel his warm hand creeping under your shirt, resting on your stomach. There is a pleasant tingle radiating from there and you feel the surge of adrenaline. “Do you really think it’s a good idea?”

“What’s a good idea?” He asks, and his nose on the side of your neck gives you a full body shiver.

Doors open once again.

“Dude. Kitchen is not going to stock take itself. And your _junior_ needs to finish washing.” Both of you look at Wonjae, and you can’t stop yourself from smiling at him. You have to appreciate him for being so stoic while putting up with your shit. Wrong. With _Jongdae’s_ shit.

 *

You have already changed back into your clothes, shop squeaky clean. You flop down on one of usual couches (usual meaning those you chose for meeting). There are around dozen people, few still missing because you (Gayeon and Jongdae) convinced Songbin that meeting will be better with alcohol – and those missing souls went out to buy it.

You were worried how are you going to save place next to you for Jongdae (you even put your legs on the couch, taking all the place for you), but Wonjae once again proved to be helpful – you start to believe that your life would be way harder without him. He sat on the arm rest of the sofa blocking anyone from sitting down – but you knew that he would move as soon as Jongdae is back.

And sure enough the moment doors open and Jongdae with Gayeon and Doyun arrive with long awaited goods, Wonjae stands up to retrieve bags. People move to grab their orders, and you sit waiting for Jongdae to bring your beer to you.

Which he does, flopping down on the couch, pushing one of your legs down, and just moving back until his back rested against your torso.

“Da faq…!” People started laughing, and you played your part of being annoyed with Jongdae. He ignored you fixing himself, and sliding down, his head landing on your shoulder, squishing you, and you squirmed, slapping him, amongst fits of laughter.

“Shush, Junior, meeting is about to start. Drink beer, it’s going to get better soon.” Says Hyun, opening bottle for you, and pushing it into your hand. You shake your head, once again exasperated, but you take a sip, and you notice Gayeon winking at you.

You blush, but you rest your empty hand on Jongdae’s stomach.

“I guess we have our first couple.” States Songbin, bring himself a chair and sitting down. You are sure that your blush is getting darker, but Jongdae just salutes him with his bottle.

You weren’t ready for such outing. You didn’t talk about it? And now you feel uncomfortable, looking at those amused face around you.

“Do I need to remind you clause of workers’ relationships?” Ask Songbin in all seriousness, and you take a sip of your beer, grateful for something to cover your face with.

“But we don’t have those!” Laughs Gayeon.

“We can invent something now!” Prompts Hyun, and you refuse to acknowledge their conversation. Jongdae grabs your hand.

“How about we start the meeting?” This voice is annoyed. This voice is angry, and you look up to see Jeongeun not looking at you, not smiling.

“Oh, yes, right…” Songbin seems thrown off, but clears his throat and fixes his documents.

And now you feel bad. You don’t like Jeongeun, but you remember the misery you felt when you were sure Jongdae had a girlfriend.

*

She escapes as soon as the meeting is over, and you can’t blame her. Rest invites you for drinks, but as soon as Jongdae grabs your hand they start joking about couples having other things to do at night.

You’d probably be laughing with them if it wasn’t about you – but it seems condescending to being seen only as an item and not as two different entities happening to be kissing sometimes (often).

When you are left alone Jongdae speaks up.

 

“Beer?”

“Not today.” You say, trying not to sound mad. Jongdae shrugs, fixing the strap of his shoulder.

“Ok, I’ll take you home.” You look up surprised.

“You came by car?” Jongdae stops at on the side of the road, and sends you a killer smile, as he halts a taxi. You can’t help but laugh – and when the car stops he opens doors for you.

It’s an hour of going back home, even for those who went out tonight, so the city is mostly quiet.

“Jeongeun fancies me.” Suddenly says Jongdae, and you do your best not to scoff at his choice of words. You look away focusing on empty streets. “Right?”

“Why do you need to know?” You ask a notch louder than needed, and you see how driver’s eyes flicker to you in the mirror.

“You know, for my ego.” He says, and you hear the smile in his voice, and his hands caresses your cheek. You swat it away, still not looking at him. After a moment the hand disappears. “I bet she likes me.”

“Can you not?” You ask, suddenly tired.

“But isn’t it a compliment for you as well? Having a boyfriend that other girl wants?” He says, and you finally look at him, and he is smiling brightly.

“You are serious. “ You state, because you can see that. That he is serious.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Because it’s rude. That’s what you want to say. Along with asking why did he out you out like that. Was it also for his ego? But you can’t bring yourself to do that.

Jongdae kisses you good night when you arrive, and you are relieved when the cab drives away, as you stand on the sidewalk in front of your apartment.


End file.
